American Folklore

Menu

Tag Archives: fred zahina

Blake Johnson, Instagram’s moon facing bandit, had no idea what his tomfoolery birthed. This was nothing like the time when he insulted a rapper about sleeping with Ice T’s wife and designated the blame to some white, unsuspecting kid from the Mid-West. His little “hash tag” created a full blown tour after I pitched the idea to the president of TMG Creative, Adam Crew.

With Adam’s wealth and success, he wanted to sponsor and fund this trip; giving me full creative direction in the line up of people for this tour. I chose three people in particular; one for each state to incorporate their amazing talent into the existence of this flopping tour. Hell, we all get old and deserve one last bang.

Three cities in three different states; Long Beach, Las Vegas and Georgetown, Texas. I wanted Stephen Perdue to skateboard in Long Beach, David Abair to DJ in Las Vegas, and Travis Graves, also known as Mt. Egypt, to perform in Texas. Adam was instantly skeptical about Abair’s credentials and punctuality, but I promised his legitimacy; DJ Abair had drawn large crowds at the one and only Hound Lounge in San Francisco. We had our people, now was the time to make it happen.

Official Tour Flyer

Court in Long Beach was at the rooster hooting hour of seven in the morning. Natalie Kozanitias had picked me up the night before and let me sleep on her and Corey’s high end, L shaped couch that stretched from one end of their living room to the other. Corey was in Santa Barbara tending boats, but Clicker the pooch sent me Corey’s Grecian love with slobbering kisses as I settled on that Godly couch. Camila and I talked for hours about a possible marriage in their Budweiser backyard, as I rudely ignored Natalie’s Sloppy Joe feast; deliciously seeping through a kitchen window. As usual, life was moving at light speed.

I represented myself in court after writing almost nothing across the street at a corporate, bully coffee shop. My argument with the judge was primarily the fact that I had no money and mostly no time at all; so she waved all fees and sentenced me to AA meetings for six months. My cheap suit shined with Law and Order’s Raul Esparza’s confidence and, in my mind, victory had never been more fluent. I tasted it on that proud day.

Not much time remained before the One Man Demo would begin with Stephen Perdue at the Houghton Skate-park in Long Beach, California. Adam had flown in Perdue, and TMG’s one and only Fred Zahina to document the event with his Super 8 camera, unique eye and all out CURMUDGEONRY . This duo made me very nervous, however, and part of me would be surprised if the two of them even showed up at all. Adam briefly had told me that he had gotten each of them rooms at the five star Renaissance Hotel in downtown Long Beach with a budget of one thousand dollars for living costs. Those two definitely were blacking out.

Perdue & Fred Zahina | Official Demo Flyer

” Those two definitely were blacking out. “

One hour remained before the One Man Demo, and word had traveled that my oldest friend and highly talented artist, Brandon Hurley, better known as Bear in Woods, had just done a showing the previous night to promote his business; Brandon Hurley Arts where one can find multitudes of flawless strokes of fine art mixed with urban rawness. After calling him, we agreed to grab a quick bite at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles before the demo.

Brandon Hurley Arts | Official Tour Flyer

Bear in Woods and his girl friend whom I had never met, Natalie, stared at me with a wide eyed awe as I inhaled my dish. Time was running out and I needed to get to the demo pronto. The One Man Demo with Stephen Perdue was scheduled for an hour. That would give me enough time to show my face, execute a little PR for The Court Tour, throw some product and get the hell out of there to catch my flight back to San Jose. Long Beach was the short part of this three week stint, so every move I made had to be delicately coordinated with time. Quickly, I paid my bill, gave them both my love and hailed a cab. I liked Natalie, and throughout the twenty years Brandon and I had been friends, he had never introduced me to a woman whom I liked.

Perdue was already on the course ripping. Fred was drunkenly skating around with his camera in hand. Both of them looked a little rough around the edges. Who wouldn’t after being granted a thousand dollars for but one night? I remember the old Toebock trips when you had to get yourself to an event with your own money. How so much had changed.

Perdue killed it. The crowd of skinny pants wearing teenagers, with blinding braces and bleached hair, screamed like they had just seen Jesus himself after Perdue effortlessly landed every trick he tried. His male model smile curled under his flowing curly hair as he cruised through the park, while nineteen year old girls shrieked from his dreamy demeanor. Now I knew what it was like to go to a Beatles concert in the early sixties.

I heard one girl, who could have only been twenty at the very least, say,

” He is SO hot. I am going to fuck him tonight. “

Her friend disagreed and the two minors started violently slapping each other, which led to them both being escorted off the premises by a nearby, enticed police officer. This was out of control.

Fred found me in the crowd and led me to a box of product. He handed me a megaphone and called me a piece of shit; for what reason I hadn’t a clue.

I threw product out and the crowd went into an all out frenzy. Court Tour posters and shirts were thrown, but every pair of hands that touched these items immediately dropped them to the floor. No one gave a shit about the Court Tour. I mean, could you really blame them? I myself was having a hard time understanding what exactly I was trying to accomplish with this strange tour.

Pig Wheels and a couple of Habitat boards, a Silas and a Gall, were heaved. Also, I threw some “Don’t Act Famous” videos out into the wild crowd. Three DVDs were tossed out into the wave of hands and one came hurling back; belting me in the face like a Big Gulp in The Weatherman. Harsh.

“..one came hurling back; belting me in the face ”

Perdue was trying to land some kind of demo-ender trick as I packed up my shit; a loose pair of wheels and my flyers which only Fed Ex made a profit from. Upon entering a cab I had bum rushed in the middle of a busy street, I heard the skate park explode in applause and excitement. Perdue must have landed his demo ender. Like a kid leaving his hometown in a cheesy movie, I peered out of the back window in the cab; but instead of witnessing a teary eyed best friend shouting against my departure, I only saw Perdue’s scruffy, dirty blonde hair bobbing above a jagged silhouette of women, swarming him like a flock of termites do to a decaying log. His shirt had been ripped off and in my dwindling sight I could see Fred Zahina with his shirt off, too; shot gunning a beer and trying to feed off the less fortunate girls who just could not break through the barrier of hormonal maniacs encompassing Steve. Meanwhile, Perdue’s smile remained UNCHANGED with that male model smirk never leaving his lips. It seemed to me that he didn’t even realize what was happening, let alone where he was. He was like a parrot trying to hold onto a swaying palm branch as it’s being tossed around violently by a Florida hurricane. Never really knowing the danger of the situation, but loving every moment of it.

Brought to you straight from the heart of the Kitsap Peninsula where it all began, Bremerton, Washington. It very well may be a dump but it sure is beautiful. This is just a few clips a skatepark we pay annual respects to.

This Squints edit was quite thee adventure for me. It was me driving down from Washington to Santa Rosa, with the plan to film squints, and continue filming on the American Folklore film. Now I had already met Squints before on an early trip that I had made down there two years prior. When I stayed with Kevin McGowan a week or so. A lot of great laughs went down on that first trip. I was quickly impressed after meeting Eddie Muns, right off the bat. A high spirited savage! Then followed by a Steven Tran with a broken ankle, and Squints a charming ball of fun.

Eddie Munz ( Before sobriety)

Squints taking a break at Foley.

So after beating these marks at a dice game called 5 thousand, I was quickly introduced to the rest of the Santa Rosa. A old really fun skatepark, hills of grapes, Charles Schulz Peanut stuff, and a DIY skate spot. And that where this story will continue, on Foley Street. At a DIY skate spot that was built by the Santa Rosa locals. Basically an old building foundation that was torn down and was approved for the local skateboarders to build on. So, I’m out here at this DIY spot filming squints.

Kevin Mcgowan just another day at the ledge spot

This was the first time I had filmed Squints, and to me filming someone new is always awkward. I can remember the first line in the edit, was how it began. I asked him “whatcha you got?” And I found myself playing catch up real quickly. Now, here is a little information on Santa Rosa, it’s powered alcoholics. So being one myself, I found myself in another funny realm. Full of skate obstacles and a city that has two thumbs up on drinking in public parks.

Santa Rosa hills

I spent two weeks waking up to the Foley DIY spot, to long days of beer drinking, Trying to convince Squints to film a trick, and beer runs to the store for 3 packs of 24oz cans. It truly was a great place to hang out at! Their was always some Santa Rosa local showing up with the intent to just have a good time. The majority of the days felt like a Friday, but then once in awhile it would feel like a lazy Sunday or a Saturday BBQ. One of the guy’s named Foopa that skated the spot, would show up with truck bed full of beer. 40 ounces, 32’s, tall cans, tall boy’s, basically an endless supply of free beer. That was about to expire from the beer distributor that he worked for. All I can say is, I ended up dropping MK1 fisheye lens on the ground.

But I’ll end this like this, Squints is a ripper. I enjoyed the laughs, and the time spent filming this.

Baker Beach consists of approximately half of a mile of fancy restaurants, crumbling structures of the past, and the vast, golden blue Pacific Ocean shimmering into distance’s depths. When I used to live in the Sunset District, we would make frequent treks throughout this 800 meter span of beauty, ranging from the Sutro Baths to the Golden Gate Bridge. We’ll start at the Sutro Baths, established on March 14th, 1896 gaining its name from the former mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. Words be short, the baths consisted of seven large pools basically for wealthy heathens to flaunt their height on the pole that daintily balances upon the scoundrel of classism’s bulky thumb. After closing down due to maintenance issues, it burned down in 1966. The Sutro Baths are now a beautiful labyrinth of ruins, forever withstanding the brutal badgering of the mighty Pacific. It’s a great place to hike, find wildlife, take photos, climb rocks and just soak the magnificence of this tranquil location. Adjacent to the baths is a restaurant called The Cliff House, which is a great place to bring a special lady of your choice. A little pricey, but you’ll definitely get laid. Also you could go across the street to Beach Chalet if you want a bangin’ burger and a beer.

Travis Knight | 180 switch Crook | Baker Beach | Photo: Zahina

Baker Beach ( to the north) | San Francisco, Ca | photo: Zahina

Making your way further down this sandy abyss of homes of ancients and the protection of wild and plant life, (such as the Marin Dwarf Flax, an endangered wild flower that freely blooms about the shiny dunes) you will find yourself walking along a scattered wasteland of old military bases.

Bobby Dodd | Backside Nosegrind | Baker Beach, S.F CA | photo: Zahina

Plateaus of weathered cement pop up randomly for at least a quarter mile along the coast. Built by Spanish military in 1812, in the year 1997 it was then and now still is administered by the National Park Service. In the midst of these sporadic structures, you can find the Battery Chamberlin. This huge artillery battery was named after Captain Lowell A. Chamberlin who served in the Civil War. When 1976 came about, the location of this beast of a weapon was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Journeying on, you will come across the banks that we are skating in the following video documentation. This spot is super hit or miss. One day you can go there with a twelve pack and skate for hours, another day you might get a hundred fifty dollar ticket from some belligerent, smart ass, water polo playing cop. The latter was the case for us. These swine came in hot, (probably fresh from the academy) giving us false history lessons and ranting about how we were committing a felony. However, the strange man who called the cops was drastically a much larger sight of tomfoolery. This 70 year old clown was sunbathing, wearing a speed-o mind you, in the heaps of glass plastered upon the ground surrounded by some mindless drivel that some teenagers painted on the wall while on the influence of bath salts. I guess we were disturbing his chaotic idea of peace. That day was a miss. Following weeks later when this little edit was filmed, we had to pull some guerrilla type maneuver on a hill across the way where we waited for a motorcycle cop to disperse from the entrance. We skated hours on end, for the fog submerged us from the road. That day turned out to be a hit.

Bobby Dodd | Baker Beach, S.F. Ca | Photo: Zahina

Somewhere in the region of Baker Beach, taking place back on May 17th, 1959, an eighteen year old by the name of Albert Kogler Jr. was fatally attacked by a great white shark. The horrible incident was actually the only shark attack on Baker Beach. Also from 1986 to 1990, the northern end of Baker Beach was the original sight for the Burning Man Festival. Sometime in 1990, police allowed people to rage and build the gargantuan, wooden effigy but would not allow them to burn it. Well that kind of fucked that off, so the hippies flew east to wreak havoc in The Black Rock Dessert located in northern Nevada.

Travis Knight / Bobby Dodd / Steve Perdue | Photo: Zahina

In the following video we didn’t get laid at the Cliff House, or battle any sharks, or even dance with any hippies. We just rode our skateboards and had a great time. So if your ever in the Sunset District and don’t know what to do with yourself, (which is usually inevitable) take the expedition through Baker Beach. Adventure patiently awaits, dwelling somberly in the heart of the great Pacific’s murky fog. -Travis Dylan Knight